An 82-year-old woman lay on the operating table at Yulin First People’s Hospital in Guangxi Province. Her heart was failing — the aortic valve, the critical gatekeeper between the heart’s main chamber and the body’s largest artery, had worn out after 82 years of service. Blood was flowing backwards into her heart with every beat. Traditional open-heart surgery? Too dangerous for someone her age, with her medical history. But within 60 minutes, without a single incision to her chest, surgeons had given her a brand new heart valve. She was walking the next day and home within a week.
The Problem: When Your Heart’s Gatekeeper Fails
The aortic valve is one of the heart’s most critical components. Located between the left ventricle and the aorta, it opens with each heartbeat to allow oxygen-rich blood to flow to the body, then snaps shut to prevent backflow. When this valve deteriorates — a condition known as aortic regurgitation (AR) or aortic insufficiency — the consequences are devastating.
The Scale of the Problem:
- Global Prevalence: Aortic regurgitation affects approximately 2% of the general population, with prevalence increasing dramatically with age
- China’s Burden: With over 310 million people aged 60 and above as of 2024, China faces an enormous and growing caseload of age-related heart valve disease
- Untreated Patients: Many elderly patients with multiple comorbidities were previously considered untreatable — traditional open-heart surgery was simply too risky
For decades, the only solution for severe aortic regurgitation was open-heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass — a procedure requiring a large chest incision, stopping the heart, and connecting the patient to a heart-lung machine. While effective for younger, healthier patients, this approach carries significant risks for the elderly and those with multiple medical conditions.
Until now, patients like the 82-year-old woman in Yulin had limited options. The development of TaurusTrio has changed everything.
The Solution: TaurusTrio — China’s Revolutionary Heart Valve System
TaurusTrio is a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system developed by Peijia Medical (沛嘉医疗), a Suzhou-based biopharmaceutical company. What makes it revolutionary is its specific design for treating pure aortic regurgitation — a condition that previous TAVR devices were not optimized to handle.
Why Aortic Regurgitation Was Different:
Unlike aortic stenosis (narrowing of the valve), where calcium buildup provides natural anchor points for device placement, pure aortic regurgitation typically presents a valve that has worn out without significant calcification. This creates a fundamental engineering challenge: how do you securely anchor a replacement valve when there’s nothing for it to grip onto?
Previous transcatheter solutions struggled with this problem. Without calcium to anchor against, implanted valves could shift position, slip out of place, or create gaps around the edges (paravalvular leaks) that compromise their effectiveness.
TaurusTrio’s Breakthrough Design:
- Integrated Positioning Keys: The device features proprietary positioning keys built directly into the valve frame, eliminating the need for calcium-based anchoring
- Pure AR Optimization: Specifically engineered for pure aortic regurgitation, addressing the unique anatomical challenges of this condition
- Self-Aligning Mechanism: The positioning keys enable precise placement within the native valve annulus, preventing migration and reducing paravalvular leaks
The First Patients: Real Stories from Chinese Hospitals
The clinical impact of TaurusTrio has been demonstrated across multiple Chinese hospitals since its approval. Here are the real stories that show what this technology means for patients:
Case 1: The 82-Year-Old in Yulin (Guangxi Province)
An 82-year-old woman with severe aortic regurgitation, coronary heart disease, and diabetes arrived at Yulin First People’s Hospital struggling to breathe, unable to lie flat at night. Her heart had enlarged to compensate for the backwards blood flow. The multidisciplinary team, led by Deputy Director Liang Xiangwen, chose TaurusTrio for its superior anchoring capabilities in the absence of valve calcification.
Result: The entire procedure took 60 minutes. Post-surgery, her aortic regurgitation disappeared immediately. She was walking the next day and discharged on day five.
Case 2: The First-in-Nation Procedure at Rizhao (Shandong Province)
On January 25, 2026, Academician Ge Junbo — one of China’s most renowned cardiologists — led the team at Rizhao Heart Disease Hospital to perform the nation’s first TaurusTrio implantation. This pioneering procedure marked the official clinical debut of the device, setting the standard for subsequent implementations across the country.
Case 3: Post-Artificial Heart Patient in Nanchong (Sichuan Province)
In February 2026, a patient at Beijing Anzhen Nanchong Hospital faced an extraordinarily complex challenge: aortic regurgitation developing after a previous left ventricular assist device (artificial heart) implantation. The TaurusTrio system enabled a minimally invasive solution for a condition that would have been nearly impossible to address through traditional surgery.
How It Works: The Technology Behind the Breakthrough
The TaurusTrio procedure represents the pinnacle of minimally invasive cardiac intervention. Here’s how it works:
Step-by-Step Process:
- Access: A small puncture is made in the femoral artery (groin area) — no chest incision required
- Navigation: A catheter carrying the compressed valve is threaded through the blood vessels to the heart
- Positioning: Using high-precision imaging, the device is positioned exactly at the site of the diseased valve
- Deployment: The positioning keys engage with the native valve annulus, anchoring the new valve securely in place
- Verification: Immediate assessment confirms proper function and eliminates regurgitation
Key Technical Advantages:
- No Heart-Lung Machine: The heart continues beating throughout the procedure
- No Chest Incision: Access through a small femoral puncture means minimal trauma
- Rapid Recovery: Most patients are walking within 24-48 hours and discharged within 3-7 days
- Reduced Complications: Lower rates of infection, bleeding, and other surgical complications compared to open-heart surgery
Hospitals Leading the Way Across China
Since the device’s approval in December 2025, TaurusTrio has been successfully deployed at leading cardiac centers across China:
January 2026 — Rizhao Heart Disease Hospital (Shandong Province)
Under the leadership of Academician Ge Junbo, China’s pioneer in interventional cardiology, the hospital performed the nation’s first TaurusTrio implantation, establishing the clinical protocols and safety benchmarks for the procedure.
February 2026 — Wuhan Asia Heart Hospital (Hubei Province)
Among the first batch of hospitals nationwide to adopt the system, the team successfully treated severe aortic regurgitation patients, demonstrating the device’s efficacy in the critical early adoption phase.
March 2026 — North Sichuan Medical College Affiliated Hospital (Sichuan Province)
The hospital’s TAVR team performed its first TaurusTrio procedure, marking the technology’s expansion into western China and bringing this treatment option to a wider population.
April 2026 — Peking University International Hospital (Beijing)
The cardiac team completed two high-difficulty TAVR procedures in a single day, attacking both pure aortic regurgitation and complex calcified bicuspid aortic stenosis — demonstrating the system’s versatility across different valve pathologies.
May 2026 — Yulin First People’s Hospital (Guangxi Province)
Successfully performed the first TaurusTrio procedure in the southeast Guangxi region, treating an 82-year-old patient with multiple comorbidities and proving the technology’s accessibility beyond major metropolitan centers.
Regulatory Milestone: From Approval to National Adoption
The journey from laboratory to hospital bedside has been remarkably swift for TaurusTrio:
Timeline:
- December 19, 2025: National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) grants marketing approval
- December 21, 2025: Peijia Medical announces the approval, positioning it as China’s first dedicated transcatheter device for pure aortic regurgitation
- January 25, 2026: First-in-nation clinical implantation at Rizhao Heart Disease Hospital
- February 2026: Expansion to multiple cardiac centers across China
- April 2026: Procedures being performed at hospitals from Beijing to Guangxi
Significance of the Approval:
- First Domestic AR Device: TaurusTrio is the first domestically developed transcatheter valve system specifically designed for pure aortic regurgitation
- Regulatory Precedent: The approval established regulatory pathways for future Chinese-developed structural heart devices
- Manufacturing Scale: As a domestic product, TaurusTrio benefits from China’s manufacturing infrastructure, enabling potential cost advantages over imported alternatives
Global Significance: What This Means for Heart Patients Worldwide
The success of TaurusTrio carries implications far beyond China’s borders:
For International Patients:
- Accessible Treatment: China’s 240-hour visa-free transit policy and 30-day unilateral visa-free entry make it feasible for international patients to travel to China for TAVR procedures
- Cost Advantage: Chinese-developed devices typically offer significant cost savings compared to Western equivalents
- Expertise Concentration: With multiple Chinese hospitals now experienced in TaurusTrio procedures, patients have access to a growing pool of expertise
For Global Cardiology:
- Proof of Concept: TaurusTrio demonstrates that pure aortic regurgitation — previously considered unsuitable for transcatheter treatment — can be effectively addressed with purpose-built devices
- Innovation Competition: Chinese medical device innovation is accelerating, challenging the traditional dominance of Western manufacturers in structural heart interventions
- Clinical Data: As more procedures are performed, the growing dataset from Chinese centers will contribute to global understanding of transcatheter AR treatment
The Bigger Picture:
TaurusTrio represents a broader trend in Chinese medical innovation: the shift from following Western medical technology to developing purpose-built solutions for specific clinical challenges. By focusing on pure aortic regurgitation — a condition that existing global devices were not designed to treat — Peijia Medical has created a niche where Chinese innovation leads rather follows.
As more hospitals across China gain experience with this technology, and as international clinical collaborations expand, TaurusTrio has the potential to become a global treatment option for patients with aortic regurgitation who previously had limited choices.
Sources
- Yulin First People’s Hospital: No Open Chest, 1 Hour to Replace a Heart Valve
- China Economic Weekly: Domestic Innovative Medical Device Approved for Aortic Regurgitation
- Peijia Medical TaurusTrio System Receives NMPA Marketing Approval
- Rizhao Heart Disease Hospital Completes First TaurusTrio Implantation
- Wuhan Asia Heart Hospital Among First Nationwide to Perform TaurusTrio
- North Sichuan Medical College Hospital Successfully Performs First TaurusTrio Procedure
- Peking University International Hospital Completes Two High-Difficulty TAVR Procedures